Death Of Tragedy

I believe, our current view of the world has been highly polarized you are either a winner or a loser. Our culture has also grown to adopt this ideology without question. Its not the acceptance that I reject but the acceptance without questioning. I ask you to dive into to the immense complexity and to understand perspective and validity of this ideology.

Let me begin by gazing into the perspective of the ‘not-so-fotunate’. Take sports for example we all understand that their can be only one winner when a large group enters a tournaments which means that majority are going to be losers. Now instead of merely pointing fingers and judging them shall we try to understand their emotion? Did they lose because they spend less number of hours in field? Or is it because they didn’t sweat or bleed enough? Is it because they didn’t want to win enough? Or perhaps they didn’t deserver it because they aren’t talented enough? They lost because we set the rules that way…. We were cruel to them we made them feel like they didn’t deserver it. We wanted a gladiator!!

Now I am not asking everyone to stop watching or playing sports. The competitive environment that we have evolved have produced some of the finest moments of humanity. Have you ever felt the raw emotion surge within you when saw Jordan crosses Bryon Russell and take the final shot with less than ten seconds on the clock to win the series in 1998.

I am merely asking you not to break an already broken sole. I am asking you to avoid tabloidization of misery, its not worth it. Creators of anything have a specific objective to attain, they are to provide what is required by others. Creators of tabloids what to tap into the misery and channelise it for their own satisfaction, it can either be motivated by money (Certain News outlets), Glory or self satisfaction and a feeling of general acceptance from others (Creators of hate meme’s).

Now I want to further dive into minds of such people and provide a reason if possible an alternative for such a behaviour. One reason I believe is that we now lack suffice sources for tragedy and its importances. In ancient Greece there were plays on classic tragedies, even in the Shakespearean era the most famous works were tragic (although this might be due to the work itself and not the story). I doubt if any modern tragic can make it to the best sellers list. Even the movies that we watch are market driven. Can a tragic story line break box office records? Do you think Harry potter would have sold as many copies if Harry had died in the end? How many of you have sown not to watch Game of Thrones any more after your favourite character died?

We have evolved art to be market driven… Our morality has been so completely rewired to suite our happy side. ‘The World is full of rainbows and sunshine*’. No wonder why so many of epically fail at relationships We want our partners to be Greek goddess or knight in shining armours yet fail to comprehend the basic of relationships – compromise. Its pain that teaches you not inflict it on others. It makes you grow, mature show compassion and pity where it is required. Learn to endure pain for it will make you stronger. A stone which cannot endure the pain of chiseling can’t become a flawless sculpture.

~ S.C

*- Borrowed form the movie ‘Rocky Balboa’.

What Chess has thought me about the real world?

Chess, a game to many and philosophy to a few. A game of 64 squares and 32 pieces (Both sides) each with a unique potential. The secret to their potential lies with how many squares they can control and how efficiently they can control them. In order to be a good player you are not only required to realise what pieces you have instead you are required to gauge the ability of what a piece can become. Its hard to comprehend if you are unaware of how the game has to be played. For example a knight at the centre of the board is a monster compared a rook stuck in a corner. A bishop controlling a central diagonally can be as dangerous as an armour piercing missile in breaking the enemies line of defence. Of course it all depends on the situation, the ability of the opponent and your ability to see the future, empathies, envision and deliver.

So how is this compared to real life? Its so much similar that listing them in a single article will not do justice but I shall still try. First just like how a lone king can never win a game, it is important to understand if you think you are alone you can never win. You are who you are because of the people in you life and the situation and circumstances that you have faced. Remember to learn and rely on others around you. People who are ready to lend you their strength and abilities. Just like how one piece does not have all the power, (even the queen can’t move like a knight) one man does not posses everything alone!

Don’t think others are either superior or inferior to you, even a pawn can capture a queen. There are people who are similar like you instead of trying to compete and prove your superiority learn to understand them and form a bond. Remember that it is next to impossible to break (without a sacrifice at least) the bond between two rooks who are on the same rank or file.

Form connection long and strong just like a well defined pawn structure. Predict the future based on the present because a man without a vision will perish and constantly change, update it because just like time situation also changes constantly. Realise just like a pawn even you have the ability to promote yourself, you have the ability to become anything you want. The only thing you require is perseverance, to constantly pursue what you want to be no matter the huddle.

Finally unlike a chess board which has a limited number of outcomes compared to the game of life, and the fairness provided in chess which cannot be expected in life, the philosophy remains the same. Learn, grow, adapt, empathise, and win!

– S.C

P.S: The comparison of people to piece made in this article is only metaphorical and not literal.

Unfair!

“Nothing is perfect, the world is not perfect but it’s there for us trying the best it can. That’s what makes it so dam beautiful.”

~ Hiromu Arakawa, Fullmetal Alchemist.

Life can be daunting at times. We can lose focus, hope, faith and worst of all the ‘will to be’ at times. It seems unfair and unjustified at times. We have all been there I write this post for those who refuse to see the light at the end of the tunnel, for those who believe hard times have come to stay and not to pass.

I am not going to lie to you by saying ‘I understand’. I obviously and clearly don’t.  I cannot possibly fathom the magnitude of pain and suffering you are going through. What you face is something you and you alone can feel. But instead I want you to answer something for me. If you yourself cannot face something that has happened to you in your life, who else can?

One of the main reasons you feel that pain is not because of the cause itself. It’s because of the fact that it has happened to you instead of someone else. Envy is a brutal being. I am not saying it is immoral to be envious. It’s a part of being human but if you want to be more than that you have do more than just envy. Instead try appreciating what you have; it is possibly the hardest thing you can ever do, appreciate when you are in pain.

It’s about how you faced your hardship that truly defines you. We remember Mandela for the struggles he face and Gandhi for his unwavering heart. Everything which has a beginning will have an end. That includes your joy and your suffering nothing is eternal, may be the Universe but we are still working on that. Remember it’s not about how many times you have won but instead how many times you decided to hold on when you have let gone. Finally never be afraid of tomorrow for that is still another day and will go by just as this one has.

Redefining Mathematics by perhaps defining infinity….

If you take our current number system, which are nothing but the alphabets for the language of mathematics, it has been continuously evolving. It started right from the time we drew lines to represent values till the time we gave them symbols and accepted them universally. The time we added zero to the natural system to make it a whole or when we gave it signs such as positive and negative and created the integers. But it simply wasn’t enough we had do more to the alphabets so that we can create more words that explain more phenomenon. We created rationality and irrationality in numbers. We made them real and then complex we never truly stopped.

The greatest beauty of maths that I could fathom does not lie in the fact that it can precisely predict and explain the events in a universe but it lies in the fact that it still allows ‘change’. If Newton (or Leibniz) did not give the power of the infinitesimal to mathematics we won’t have been able to move forward. This is may be the only language in the world that allows addition of new thoughts into its system to explain the unexplained and perhaps that is the reason why it the best there is.

Maths is the best tool we have to describe some of the most complex phenomenon, not merely on Earth but in the Whole Universe. It tells us about the world of the very large (relativity) and the world of the very small (quantum mechanics). It tries to tell us what happens in the core of the Sun or it also attempts to explain the stars and the cosmos. It tells us if an asteroid might hit earth and annihilates all life as we know it or if we will still live to eat another cheese burger the next day.

So this brings me to a question will this language grow further? I guess so. It has always broken its limits and progressed. I believe that it will break its barrier of infinity too someday. We may be Redefining Mathematics by perhaps defining infinity. Everything that we know becomes incomprehensible at infinity. For example what happens at the center of the black hole when gravity is infinite? Our understanding simply breaks down. May be its not our understanding but our definition that is wrong? Or perhaps our understanding is only a special case of something much larger like infinity…?

Eagerly awaiting answers to such questions,

Subramanian.C

“Basketball” just a game? Naa it’s a way of life!!

What is the one thing that we all tend to do most often in our life? We tend to bring a sense of meaning or purpose in our life. This aspect of meaning is achieved through different means for different people. Some try to bring out life through art, some create and play music that makes you feel things that are not possible to be put into words, some write literature that can surpass reality. I write this post to express the first thing that made me feel alive….

The touch of synthetic against your hand, sound of the ball bouncing against the floor at regular intervals, shine the players get caused due to the light against their sweat, the sweet sound of swish, the racing heart beat you feel while crossing a player, the trust your team mates possess in you, the feeling of wobbling legs at the near end of the game. Oh I only wish I had better words to describe these feelings. Let me tell you one thing it doesn’t matter if I win or lose a game but the feeling of satisfaction that the game gives me is far greater than anything that I can ever ask for.

The best thing about basketball is it’s one of the best distractions from the world. Once you enter the court you don’t think of what you have to eat for dinner, you don’t think of what assignment or quiz you have in class tomorrow, you don’t even think of ‘that special someone’ you like so much because you know that all of that becomes irrelevant in the court. You keep your head in the game and enjoy the thrill. All you think of is where to pass the ball? Or how to create an opening? It is like playing chess with five individually moving, thinking pieces. Now you get the complexity of the game. Just like how all your five figures are working together to hold an object all five player must work together. That is why it is called a team sport.

It doesn’t matter if you are best player on the court “you just have to be the best you can ever be”. When someone passes the ball to you they are not just giving you that ball, they are giving you their hope, trust and encouragement with it. You have to be careful not to destroy it. In return you do the same to them by passing it back. You also predict the future by predicting your teammate’s movements. You get to know a person lot better when you ball with him.

When you are screening someone you are not only providing space for your teammate you are also taking a blow to your chest and protecting him. It’s a lot similar to a solider protecting his mate during battle. Trust is the key to survival in this battle. There are so many wonderful things happening so fast that for an observer they don’t even realize the beauty behind it. Like striping the ball from a fast opponent, crossing someone, intercepting a pass, jumping higher than anyone to get the rebound, shooting consecutive three points so that opponents are scared when you get the ball, faking and shooting there are millions more…..

Life is not always about wining or reaching great heights, sometimes it’s also about that path you take to achieve it. Because once the journey is complete it’s not the destination that makes it memorable but the hardship that made it worth it. I wish and hope all of you find meaning in life just like how I found mine in basketball 🙂

 

Meaning

What good is a book if it is never read? What good is music if it is never heard? What good are things if they don’t satisfy the purpose for which they are made? They just become meaningless. Thus by utilizing various materials you are actually giving them a purpose for their existence. That’s what philosophy is for me. It is to understand the meaning of various things in life including life itself. It is such a beautiful field yet an underrated one.

You would have often wondered “what is my purpose here?” or “what am I doing with my life?” what essentially you are looking for is nothing but the same thing you give to other things “meaning”. Remember that the book in the last paragraph did not give meaning to itself it was someone who used the book who gave it its meaning. Similar but a slightly enhanced principle applies to us as well. It would not be entirely possible to find purpose in our lives by ourselves alone. We would require help form others. That is why we live in a society and not as lone wolfs.

For example you may choose to be a musician by your choice alone but will you be truly satisfied with yourself if none of your music touches another’s soul? It is the other person who appreciates your music who makes you feel accomplished. That is why true marvels deserve to be appreciated and spread. It is at that moment when we help someone else understand the purpose of his life do we truly understand the beauty in this complex yet fragile system.

I am not a really spiritual person but I hope this post brings a slightest amount of thought in you that might help someone.